


Ice Cream and Firewhiskey

by zephsomething



Series: Surviving the War [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drinking, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 23:04:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12692037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephsomething/pseuds/zephsomething
Summary: Angela and George help each other with their grieving (though the firewhiskey does most of the heavy lifitng)





	Ice Cream and Firewhiskey

The shop was just about closed when Angelina walked in, and for so many reasons she almost wasn’t able to. There were her own reasons of course, her mind could call up dozens of reasons why this was a terrible idea, but there were other reasons too, ones she didn’t even know about (George had almost closed the shop early, Ron had almost stayed late). However those reasons hadn’t intervened and Angelina had managed to talk herself through the doorway. As soon as George looked up she knew it had been a good idea. The bags under his eyes were purpler than she’d ever seen them and his skin had gone a shade of pale that meant he rarely left the building. Every carefully planned thing she’d thought to start with flew straight out of her brain when she looked into George’s eyes, so like Fred’s but so different too.

“I miss him too.” Her voice cracked on the words and she lifted the bag she was carrying. “I brought fire whiskey and ice cream.”

“That’ll do it.” George nodded after a moment and flicked his wand, closing and locking the door behind her. He gestured at the bottom of the stairs a half smile on his face, so different from the wide grins Angelina was used to. “Ladies first.”

“Why thank you sir.” She tried to grin and found her own smile wasn’t much bigger than his, luckily he’d already turned away to put out the lights with a flick of his wand.

The stairs opened up into a space that seemed confused as to what it was supposed to be. There was a small kitchen area tucked into the far corner, a table and two chairs sat in the center of the room, a couch was shoved against one of the walls, and another wall was lined with shelves which had dozens of books and bits strewn across them. On the side of the room with the shelves was a door that stood open to what looked like a workshop, the opposite side had two closed doors and when she glanced behind her she there was a door to the bathroom. Almost every wall had windows.

“It’s nice.” Angelina said as she turned a slow circle to take it all in.

“We…” George trailed off and took a breath before continuing. “We were going to throw a party, invite everyone you know? Once it was all over…”

“Still can, if you want.” Angelina set her bag on the table. “You’d need a few more chairs but I can think of a handful of people right off the top of my head for your guest list.”

He paused, as though waiting for someone to speak, before running a hand through his hair. “It doesn’t feel like it’s over.”

“You haven’t been out there.” Angelina gestured towards the nearest window with the cup she’d pulled out of the cupboard.

“Fill me in?” He opened the fire whiskey she’d brought and poured it into the cups as she set them down.

“The ministry put out a call for aurors, anyone who was in the DA gets a free pass in regardless of OWLs or NEWTs.” Angelina started and took a swig of the whiskey. “They’re considering the last two years sufficient resume.”

“Those kids have more field practice than most adults.” George said quietly, clearly thinking about something in particular but Angelina didn’t press.

“Hogwarts is back to the best condition McGonagall can make it and she’s sent out letters, everyone who was a seventh year last year is welcome to full marks on any NEWTs they’d have been taking.” Angelina continued with a nod. “Only about half the seventh years took her up on the offer, the rest seem to want to redo the year anyway.”

“Nutters.” George let out a noise that was almost a chuckle and Angelina counted it as a victory.

“Yeah, I’d have taken the offer myself but not everyone is as clever as we are.”

“What about you?” He asked after a beat or two of quiet. “What are your plans? Now that the war’s over?”

“Honestly? I debated taking up the ministry’s offer of an auror position.” She shrugged looking up at the roof, it had been a long debate with herself on that one. “Turns out I’m not much of a hero though, I think I’ll try out for the England league quidditch teams, I’ve always preferred flying to anything else.”

“One of the best chasers we ever had.” George nodded standing up for a moment and coming back with bowls. As he pulled the carton out of the bag he grinned. “Oooh, you brought the good stuff.”

“That I did.” Angelina grinned at him topping off his glass as well as her own while he scooped the ice cream into two bowls. “What about you? Business picking up?”

“Yeah, Ron and Ginny have been helping out a lot.” George glanced towards the stairs with a sort of frown. “Ginny’s got a knack for making the stuff and Ron’s good with the customers. I’ve banned Harry from the storefront though, kid can’t turn around without someone trying to get his signature.”

“What about that girl that always hung around them? Herio-something, the smart one.” Angelina gestured with her spoon.

“She’s started muggle collage half a semester early because apparently she lost her mind.” George shook his head with a snort. “I’d end up with more notes in my stockroom than stock if I let her try and help. Besides she’s always on about something, creature rights or freedom.”

“Like that campaign she had in school, gods what was it.” Angelina stuck some ice cream in her mouth while she thought about it, it felt like decades ago that the girl with bushy hair had cornered her on the way into the common room with pamphlets and buttons. “Something about house-elf freedom.”

“S.P.E.W.” George nodded finishing his ice cream and scooping some more out. “Exactly like that.”

Which is when Angelina caught sight of the large pile inside the workshop. She pointed towards it with her spoon. “Your workroom is a mess.”

“Ah…” George drained his cup of fire whiskey before answering. “That’s all… That’s what Charlie could save from our room, from mum’s place. Death Eaters tried to burn it to the ground. It didn’t take.”

“Come on.” Angelina grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey in one hand and George’s wrist in the other, he grabbed the bowl of ice cream in his free hand, and she dragged him into the workshop. “What are the boxes for?”

“Keep and trash.” George nudged one of them as they walked past. She settled them between the two boxes. “It seemed easiest.”

“Wrong.” Angelina realized belatedly that she was a little bit more tipsy than George was but that didn’t stop her from pulling out her wand and gesturing at the boxes. A third one appeared as her neat script appeared along the sides. “They’re now display, save for later, and hide from sight.”

George snorted as she bumped her shoulder against his. “Okay.”

“Good, now what about this?” Angelina picked up an old photo of Percy, covered in colourful slime and making rude gestures at them both.

“Oh that’s display, definitely.” George nodded, trying and failing to keep a serious expression on his face. “We rigged his door to shoot candy at him every time he mentioned the ministry.”

“God’s was that the year he kept on about his twenty step plan to get the minister position?” Angelina laughed and floated it to the ‘display’ box.

Each thing she picked up had a story behind it, some of them George told and some of them he just shook his head, but by the time the sun rose they were passed out leaning on each other. Luckily for them it was Ginny who came upstairs to check for George, she left two large glasses of water on the newly cleared floor between them and the boxes before creeping back downstairs. She used her best silencing charm on the top of the staircase before she and Ron opened the store.

 


End file.
